Christmas Time :)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. I was happy to see Christmas decorations go up around the town. I also liked that this manger was the biggest display in town; not some Santa Claus or Christmas tree.

Unfortunately, they had to keep the display close to a Government building with surveillance, because when it was in the plaza earlier, baby Jesus got stolen :(

This is my in-laws Christmas tree and just about the average size of all Christmas trees in Argentina.




So I decided not to decorate this year, but then Lucas's mom gave us some decorations and this is what happened!

Camping !!!

This is what camping on a motorcycle looks like. It was tricky, but we made it

After arriving to La Carrizal, our campsite, we set up our tent. Its an older tent so it was different from anything I had ever seen, but Lucas eventually figured it out.

Yay for smart people!

The finished product!

The Lake next to our campsite.

We went to the lake and watched everyone in there boats and jet skis. Maybe someday we'll have our own!

This was Lucas's first camping trip ever so we got to do alot of firsts with him, like roasting his first hot dog :)

First marshmallow : )

First s'more! mmm

And then we watched the sunset over the lake.

Feria de las Naciones

We went to a fair in the city where people came to celebrate their roots. They set up stands showing things from their countries, mostly food and drink. I was surprised by how many different countries were there.This one is Holland.

Lebanon

Chile (Lucas's favorite because he served his mission here!)

San Marino. Still not quite sure where that is.

Italy

Colombia

Poland

My favorite! Mexico.

It was so good to finally get some authentic mexican food!

Thanksgiving 2011

I thought I would end up skipping Thanksgiving this year because I didn't want to do it alone, but I ended up with alot of gringos here to celebrate it with. We had four Elders from the states and my new friend Linda who is also an American who ended up marrying someone from Rivadavia!

Lucas got to cut the turkey for his first Thanksgiving! He was a little nervous but did a great job :)

I was impressed that were able to have a traditional thanksgiving. We found a turkey, had stuffing, creamy potato casserole, and even had some cranberries!

I even managed my first homeade pumpkin pie!

Lucas's First Halloween!

I was a little worried that we wouldn't be able to do pumpkin carving like I wanted to because pumpkins don't exist here in Argentina; but we were able to find some good sized squashes that looked like small pumpkins and it all worked out. I was nervous about putting them out on the porch because I was afraid they would be stolen, but they lasted through the whole night!
Because tirck-or-treating doesn't exist here either, Lucas and I bought and gave candy to each other and then ate it while we watched scary movies!

Cerro de La Gloria

We went to the city today to see the Cerro de La Gloria or The Hill of Glory.
This is one of the most important sights in Mendoza. These are statues of the army leaders who helped to free Argentina.

My Turn

Lucas got his toy and I got mine: a new washing machine. Not exactly a toy, but I was happy to finally have my own washing machine. I'm sure Lucas's mom is even happier, considering she's the one who has been doing our laundry for the last few months! Too bad dryers don't exist in Argentina!